From the Archives: Safia Ketou, the First Algerian Sci-fi Novelist of Post-independence Algeria
“– You are on the Mauve Planet.”
Reviews
On the Redemptive Power of Madness
History of the Gods of Egypt is a metaficitional narrative that not only addresses the transgenerational political and social trauma in an unsettling near-future Egypt but also ponders the nature of madness as a powerful creative force and as a tool of resistance against the inescapability of guilt.
The Art of Practical Translation and Al-Razi’s ‘Zīnat al-Kataba’
Although, one must note, “Take it out when maggoty” is a delightful sentence.
Ahmed Bouanani and Morocco’s Seventh Art
“It was the only book that Ahmed Bouanani wanted to publish, but he died believing that the manuscript had been destroyed when his house burned down.”
‘Conceptions of Justice in the 1001 Nights’
“We do not bring medieval works to light, when we read them, we are creating them anew with every interpretation. So today, my reading is one of many.”
‘Awlad al-Nas’: Transforming our View of Mamluk Egypt
Awlad al-Nas (literally Children of the People) offers insight into Egyptians’ lives during the Mamluk period (1250–1517), which played a key role in Egypt’s history.
Fathia Debech’s Katara Prize-winning ‘Melanin’: A Look at Racism and Identity
With her debut novel, Tunisian author and translator Fathia Debech won a prestigious Katara Prize for the Arabic Novel.
A Search for Beauty and Appreciation: Kay Heikkinen on Translating ‘Velvet’
” I will never look at rain the same way I used to; the author talks about it as if it were a living being with a will, attacking the earth, and how it has an effect on the streets.”
‘Hara Hotel’: On Centering the Western Narrator and Stories About Syrian Refugees
“It reminds us of the colonial narratives advancing how the colonized people are in desperate need of saving.”